Sony Xperia C3 available in Singapore from August 30 at S$468

Updated on August 27: Sony Mobile Singapore announced that the Xperia C3 will be available from August 30 at a retail price of S$468 (inclusive of GST and without line contract). It will be available exclusively at SingTel only and consumers can get free 2GB local data bundle for the first 12 months when they sign up with the latest Combo plans.

Originally reported on July 9

It seems that camera phone makers are shifting their focus to the front-facing camera and Sony is the latest company to jump on the bandwagon. Its latest Xperia C3 smartphone is touted as the world's best selfie smartphone.

Looking at the specs of its front-facing camera, Sony is not kidding; the Xperia C3 has a 5-megapixel front camera with soft LED flash and a 25mm wide angle lens. The unique soft LED flash casts a soft even light across the whole image and the 25mm wide angle lens with an 80-degree field of view allows you to fit more people in the frame.

In addition, the Xperia C3 is the first Xperia smartphone to incorporate the Superior Auto mode - auto adjustment of lighting conditions and auto scene recognition - for the front camera. You no longer need to struggle to press the shutter button when taking a selfie as you can double tap its back cover or use Smile Shutter.

To make your selfies more interesting, Sony preloads two selfie camera apps - AR Effect and Portrait Retouch - on the Xperia C3. AR Effect enables you to add fun graphics and animations such as pirate hats and laser eyes while Portrait Retouch allows you to have a real-time makeover of up to two people from a choice of 10 different beauty styles, 10 DECO frame options and magic beam for 6 eye reflection pattern changes.

Its rear camera is no slouch either; the Xperia C3 has an 8-megapixel Exmor RS for mobile image sensor with pulsed LED flash. It is also capable of 1080p video recording with SteadyShot so that videos come out smooth and distortion-free.

Other specs of the Xperia C3 include a 5.5-inch 720p display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage with microSD expansion up to 32GB, 4G LTE connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0, dual-SIM support and a 2,500mAh battery.

Sony states that the Xperia C3 will be available in black, white and mint. It will be launched globally from next month with China as the first launch market. The Xperia C3 is expected to go up against the likes of the HTC Desire 816, Huawei Honor 3X and Xiaomi Redmi Note. Below is a quick overview of their specs: